As I understand the TOS, it’s not okay for any of us to seek advice regarding illegal activities. And I agree with that.
Other than “because he’s the boss,” then, why would it be okay for the proprietor to be posting this?
Is that the TOS for the forums?
Cecil writes a syndicated newspaper article and is probably subject to wholly different TOS than we are.
From a marijuana cultivation website:
Today RICO laws are used against growers and non-growers alike. Under the law, a person that advises a grower to “water in the morning” is equally guilty of growing the marijuana garden, even if he never saw the garden.
This seems somewhat draconian, so I’d appreciate an informed legal opinion.
Just to point out the obvious, that column was written in 1975, so it predates the board by about 25 years. (It was updated in the late 80s or early 90s.) It has nothing to do with the Terms of Services of the SDMB. Cecil’s discussed plenty of illegal activity in the past - the Straight Dope obviously attracts a pretty weird readership, and especially so in the early days. Hell, check out this necrophilia-related column.
My rabbi assures me that marijuana is kosher. 
I clocked the date of the column but the question stands.
Furthermore, we have this rule enshrined in the SDMB registration agreement:
You agree not to post material that in our opinion fosters or promotes activity that is illegal in the U.S.
If anyone wishes to debate this subject by suggesting solutions to the bug infestation problem other than those proposed by Cecil, I’d like to know how such alternatives can be posted to this thread without infringing that rule.
Just curious.
IANAMod, but I think people are allowed to talk about it in purely hypothetical and/or past-tense saw-someone-else-do-it kind of thing. Not like, “Yesterday we did this,” but, “20 years ago we saw someone do this” …
I will also note that the necrophilia article cross-referenced is not really the same – the OP referred to himself (?) as a “pseudo” necrophiliac, and I read it more as a (kind of gross) fantasy/hypothetical. Also, unlike in the weed column, the answer there contained an explicit reminder/caveat that any of the hypothetically-discussed steps was illegal. Whereas the marijuana column answer read like, well, Dope Growing 101.
There’s a publication called “The High Times” which publishes much more detailed advice for growing marijuana. They’ve been in business for decades. I think the Terms of Service are just a PR thing for the board. They don’t want to be associated with those unsavory types.
“Cecil” wrote a column that really isn’t about how to grow marijuana. It’s more about how to kill bugs. Substitute tomato plants for marijuna, and it is still gonna be pretty much the same column in practical terms. Given that the column was written for an alternative paper, I suspect marijuana would be more likely to interest readers than tomato plants.
Medical marijuana is legal in an increasing number of states, and in those states, it’s usually legal to cultivate your own medicinal herb, so I’d say a discussion of how to grow it and kill bugs is a fairly safe topic.
Now, asking for advice on how to deal pot illegally might make TPTB a bit touchy.
I think I saw a mod mention once that since the board is national, it follows Federal laws.
Of course, couldn’t we talk in hypotheticals though? Suppose we’re taking an extended vacation in Amsterdam…
Mind you I understand that the TOS, and specifically the TOS on discussing or promoting illegal activity, are not intended to be commensurate with or to ban only posts/discussions that would themselves be illegal. I read them as a voluntary policy decision that they just don’t want this to become an academy for crime.
Re: the assertion about marijuana-growing advice being subject to RICO, I don’t know whether that’s true. As I understand conspiracy, there has to be an agreement to commit an illegal act and an overt act in furtherance of it.
And I am pretty sure that if I discussed how to hack a cable box or pick a lock here, I would not be subject to criminal prosecution (I’m wondering about my first hypothetical even as I type, as I think about DMCA). But I’m pretty sure the mods would not be happy to see me fostering such discussions.
As Oakminster points out, this is effectively a column on getting pests off your tomato plants.
Opinions will vary about this but I have always favoured garlic spray as a solution to aphid infestation on tomato plants.
Briefly dismissing the detail that diazinon is unavailable for purchase by the unlicensed home gardener, injudicious use of the product could induce, among a plethora of complaints, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea. So, anyone interpreting Cecil’s answer to the question as advice for pest control on tomato plants may wish to reconsider their aphid destruction strategy for next year’s growing period.
As others have pointed out, the column in question was only incidentally about marijuana cultivation. More generally, the Straight Dope occasionally features high-level discussion of illegal acts - we have a column coming up on how one would go about laundering money, for example. We’re not figuring to provide detailed instructions, and the same standard would apply to a message board discussion of an illegal act. We’d certainly object to anyone advocating a crime, high-level discussion or not.
Is that the profit from the marijuana plants? 
I thought Cecil jumped to the dedicated pesticides a bit quickly. I kill aphids on my apple trees & roses with dish detergent.